The present invention relates generally to a system for handling and storing optical disk or tape cartridges and, more particularly, to an cartridge handling system which is capable of alternatingly handling two optical disk or tape cartridges in a dual cartridge engaging assembly.
An optical disk is a data storage medium which is readable by a laser-based reading device. Optical disks such as "compact disks" ("CDs") are commonly used for storing musical and audio-visual works. Furthermore, due to the huge storage capacity of optical disks as compared to conventional magnetic storage media, optical disks have become increasingly popular for use in the computer industry. To increase storage capacity, such optical disks may have the ability to store data on both sides of the disk.
For purposes of storing and handling the disks, optical disks may be mounted in parallelepiped-shaped cartridges. Also used in the computer industry for data storage are parallelepiped-shaped tape cartridges such as Digital Audio Tape (DAT) cartridges and 8-mm tape cartridges.
For large databases consisting of many disk or tape cartridges, it is necessary to provide a system for handling the cartridges. Various features and components of a cartridge handling system, as well as a cartridge engaging assembly in general, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,232 dated Mar. 3, 1991 for OPTICAL DISK HANDLING APPARATUS WITH FLIP LATCH of Methlie et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,255 dated May 7, 1991 for OPTICAL DISK CARTRIDGE HANDLING APPARATUS WITH PASSIVE CARTRIDGE ENGAGEMENT ASSEMBLY of Wanger et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,536 dated Apr. 23, 1991 for CARTRIDGE HANDLING SYSTEM of Wanger et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,962 dated Aug. 27, 1991 for CARTRIDGE HANDLING SYSTEM of Wanger et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,093 dated Oct. 29, 1991 for OPTICAL DISK INSERTION APPARATUS of Christie et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,387 dated Mar. 31, 1992 for LATERAL DISPLACEMENT CONTROL ASSEMBLY FOR AN OPTICAL DISK HANDLING SYSTEM of Wanger et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,336 dated Feb. 2, 1993 for LATERAL DISPLACEMENT CONTROL ASSEMBLY FOR AN OPTICAL DISK HANDLING SYSTEM of Wanger et al.; and copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/020,160 filed Feb. 18, 1993 for LINEAR DISPLACEMENT AND SUPPORT APPARATUS FOR USE IN A CARTRIDGE HANDLING SYSTEM of Luffel et al., which are each hereby specifically incorporated by reference for all that is disclosed therein.
In general, a cartridge handling system may include a cartridge storage system for storing the cartridges at corresponding storage locations. Such a system may also include a cartridge engaging assembly which may perform such functions as retrieving a desired cartridge from its corresponding storage location, transporting the cartridge to a disk or tape drive, and inserting the cartridge into the drive. A cartridge engaging assembly may also remove a cartridge from a drive, move the cartridge into alignment with its storage location, and return the cartridge to its storage location. It may also be necessary for the cartridge engaging assembly to flip a cartridge before insertion or reinsertion into a drive to reverse the side thereof which is read or written by the drive.
In order to increase the reliability and efficiency of a cartridge engaging assembly, it would be generally desirable to minimize the amount of displacement necessary to accomplish a given task. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a cartridge engaging assembly which can alternatingly handle more than one cartridge, i.e. a cartridge engaging assembly which can passively hold a first cartridge while actively engaging a second cartridge.
In order to decrease production and maintenance costs and increase reliability of the cartridge engaging assembly, it is also generally desirable to minimize the number of components in such an assembly. Specifically, it would be desirable for a cartridge engaging assembly which is capable of alternatingly handling two cartridges to be operable from a single drive unit.